Mechanisms of the Akatsuki
by Deathoverdignity
Summary: Due to heavy losses within the Akatsuki, Itachi is tasked the less than desirable role of finding new recruits. Hakuchou Kimi catches the Akatsuki eye. Follow Kimi as she walks the path of a Death Dealer, sacrificing her humanity in the pursuit of power.
1. Trials

**_Disclaimer:_** _I do not own Naruto, and if I owned the Akatsuki, I would have all dead members reincarnated. sigh Why do the interesting ones always go…No profit is made from this story._

_**A/N:** I've began this story a while ago, but I've decided to give it a test run and see what the response to it is like. Kimi's character might seem kind of bland until the third chapter but bear with me! I wrote this because of my fascination with the Akatsuki and the complete mystery behind its inner workings. I also noticed that, with the exception of Tobi, no replacements have been made towards the heavy casualties the inner circle has endured. This is my take on the insides of the organisation!_

* * *

"You sure she's the one?" said Kisame, cloak collar pulled high to hide his shark like features, features which had gotten both he and his team-mate unwanted attention and recognition many a time.

And this time, in this place of the Hidden Cloud Village, anonymity was essential if their mission was to go smoothly. The split in two freak Zetsu had recently informed them that they _needed _the recently deceased Kazuzu's replacement soon and the replacement _had _to be extremely skilled as their plans most important phase had just began its implementation.

Kisame sighed; trying to draw more cover from the torrential rain, the large flowing cloak draped tightly around his muscular form. With a sneeze, Kisame cursed the recent multiple deaths within their organization. And the worst part was that they had been deaths the Akatsuki could _not _afford.

Unfortunately, while there were many "potential" candidates among the various shinobi villages worthy of Akatsuki assessment, and he was sure that the next generation of shinobi would out pass the present by a landslide, it appeared that their own generation was pathetically lacking. He and his partner, the ever brooding presence that was Uchiha Itachi, had slain every single potential candidate so easily that they hardly broke a sweat and the Leader was growing more and more impatient by the day. To be honest, their recent target, a twenty year old Jounin with an extremely interesting bloodline limit by the name of Hakuchou Kimi, was their desperation choice.

It wasn't that the Leader didn't want women in the Akatsuki, not at all. It was more the fact that from what he'd seen from most of the women they encountered, from the farm girls to the high class Shinobi, they seemed so _emotional _and _attached. _They all, without fail, got flustered when encountering the beauty of his partner Itachi as well, and this was another danger. You just couldn't have that kind of drama in they're already volatile group. Women tended to make already complicated matters even more so. And so this was their last option before they returned home with their tails between their legs and deal with the consequences.

They had been watching the seemingly ordinary kunoichi for a week now and so far had not liked what they saw. She seemed nice, kind, always willing to go out of the way for a friend, and just seemed so horribly _normal _that he had already prepared for the inevitable let down. This girl was obviously not their sort of material. With an aggrieved growl, he turned to his partner who was brooding, allowing the rain to soak his entire body. Kisame gave a snort of amusement. Itachi could never pass up a chance to brood.

At the moment, they were observing the girl under a shelter, her shopping bags gathered around her ankles and a look of mild annoyance on her face. Uninteresting in nearly every way…

"Itachi, I think we should just leave this one. It's pretty obvious how this is going to end. Even if she has the talent, she most definitely doesn't have the balls for the entry task. Let's just call it a day, find a nice warm motel and go look for a couple of whores?"

Yes he was fully aware that he was whining but Gods above he was sick of getting rained on! The only response he received was an aggravated "hn". Kisame curled into himself in irritation and sulked.

"Okay let me correct that. How about _I'll _go look for hookers and _you _can go sit on a rock some where and look poetically dark!"

The sound of rain hitting the dirt ground was the only noise in the mutually angered silence which followed, that was until Itachi suddenly moved from his crouching position and moved from the alley way, landing himself _directly in sight_ of their target.

"What the hell are you doing you idiot!?" he snarled as Itachi merely continued his impulsive march towards the girl, who had been sheltering herself under a closed fruit store shade. Her large, brown eyes widened for a moment at the sight of the soaked tall man and his equally drenched lumbering partner stormed towards her, but she made no movement to run or even formally acknowledge them. Instead, she stepped away from her small bag of groceries and leaned against the shop wall, her arms folded and eyes closed.

Itachi stopped a few feet away from the potential Akatsuki, the look on his face guarded and stern. Kisame narrowed his eyes at the sight. It was a look his junior got only when faced with a potential threat, or one of the rare times when an object or situation caught his interest.

"Hakuchou-san," greeted Itachi, or the closest thing to a formal greeting the younger man would give. The girl Kimi opened her eyes slowly, sliding her gaze to first Itachi and then to Kisame before tilting her head slightly in greeting.

"Who are you, and why long have you been following me?" she asked in a voice so soft it could almost be considered uninterested. Kisame felt himself stiffen.

The corners of Itachi's lips twitched a quietly amused smirk.

"A week," answered Itachi, never one to waste breath. With a slow, graceful movement, Kimi unfolded her seemingly relaxed pose and stood straight, her plain clothing stuck to her body form rain and looking wholly monotonous.

"Why are you here? Why are you tracking _me, _of all people?"

"I want to fight you."

Kisame nearly choked on his own surprise. That generally wasn't the way they went about things. They either threatened and/or ambushed their marks but never _requested _anything. And why the hell was Itachi so sure the girl would relish the opportunity to spar? From all he could see, she hardly ever went on missions, which was a bit strange for a Jounin but nonetheless, Itachi was skipping procedure a bit hard. But the girl surprised him once again. She saw her fist tighten into fists, her breath release quicker, her pupils dilate, all signs he had been thought to read to gauge a persons emotions, and the one thing the small betrayals of her body signified was: Excitement.

"I know a clearing about two miles south of the village, it will be completely deserted. Meet me there in an hour!" she rushed out so quickly that he hardly caught her disappearance. Kisame blinked at the simplicity of it all. That was…quick. The two stood in the rain fall, staring in the direction she had just fled.

"Itachi…How did you know she would accept so easily?" asked Kisame. He had to know. Everything about her declared her an average, run-of-the-mill shinobi, more involved with her clan and friends than her training. How did Itachi know that this girl would run off with two strange men into the forest for a battle without even an introduction?

"I've seen how she moves and talks. She's polite and restrained, more so than even being a member of her prestigious clan calls for. But I've seen how she takes the world in when she thinks she's alone. She is bored, Kisame. And I received word on her supposed "break" from missions. It was a suspension for unnecessary brutality and fatalities. I stole her files and looked at her track record. She has never left a survivor. Not one, whether they are low level thieves or high level diplomatic enemy shinobi. There is far more to her than meets the eye."

"Okay, I'll believe that, but that still doesn't explain how you knew she'd fight you."

"I just did."

"Fine then, go into bastard mode. Lets head, I want to get to that clearing first to look for traps."

Kisame gazed at the scene in shock, his eyes round in surprise. The battle ended much the same way as he had expected. Itachi had a well bloodied kunai pressed hard against Kimi's jugular, the girl's breath laboured through multiple broken ribs and heavy blood loss from the various hits she sustained from her battle with the Sharingan wielder. Her arm was bent at a sickeningly unnatural angle, and blood trickled out of the corner of her split lips with every heaving breath. Yet it was not that familiar scene which had caused him such vast astonishment. It was the fact that Itachi was in just slightly better shape than his battle partner, coughing up as much blood as his fallen opponent and swollen eye blinded by a heavy gash above his forehead.

It was obvious the girl was a lunatic. The battle had started as it should have, with Itachi countering her every move, despite her extremely impressive taijutsu and ninjutsu skills but they were quite obviously not up to the skill and standards that were needed to even tip Itachi.

Kisame had leaned back against a tree, at last finding the shelter he had desired for an entire week and waited for Itachi to finish her off. What of her supposed Blood-line limit? He had heard rumours of her Limit, rumours that she had taken her mediocre, questionably useful limit which had revolved around chakra detection and a marginal resistance to genjutsu and took it to unheard of heights. The members of the clan they had spoken with had regaled her as a genius, a master who would undoubtedly take control of the clan once her father died. But the poor performance she had been demonstrating made him doubt the authenticity of those claims.

Yet there was something in her stance, in her attacks. They held back for a split second with each movement, an almost hesitation. Why was she hesitating? It was obvious that Itachi's intent was to kill…

Itachi had then aimed a fire jutsu directly into her chest, one she did not even attempt in blocking, sending her hard back into a tree. Kisame watched in slight interest as an almost translucent shield arose as the flame ball had touched but then gave in, leaving her to absorb the brunt of the original attack. While her silly little Limit may have saved her from death, what it did leave her was severely injured with more than a few burns surrounding her body.

Itachi had seemed rather put out as a matter of fact. Kisame groaned, hoping that his team-mate would simply get the job over with, and kill the damn pest. But oh no. Once Uchiha Itachi was put out, he made damn sure that the cause of his irritation knew _exactly _how put out he was.

Itachi activated his Sharingan, and Kisame waited for the Tsukuyomi, the most powerful genjutsu known in existence and only used when its user is feeling _very _sadistic, trapping the person in an illusionary world for years if he wanted it to and could be tortured for what seemed like forever when only a few moment had truly past. But Itachi did not get the chance. Kimi had looked up at that exact moment, a feral grin replacing her previously vacant face.

"The _eyes_!" she hissed, jumping up with such a speed that it should have been physically impossible with her injuries. As she ran towards her shocked opponent, her hands flared with a glowing white chakra, and managed to give a hit so fast and hard into between the Uchiha's eyes that he stumbled before collapsing, clutching the hit point in agony, and screaming so hard that Kisame had been instantly on his feet, unable to believe that the ever stoic Itachi had been hurt so bad that those wails were admitting from his mouth.

The girl had limped towards him slowly, that wild smile still growing, her hands still flaring with a strange light that had his team mate writhing in pain, though his howls had ceased. Itachi looked up at her with furious and pained eyes, seemingly knowing that she would not attack before an explanation.

"I'm assuming you want to know what I just did, yes?" she wheezed, broken ribs constricting her breath.

"You have heard about my Blood-line limit I imagine. Well, the rumours regarding my evolved Limit were quite true. I refined it, drew it into its most powerful form. While most of my clan can see the chakra points faintly, and identify the different area of the body a technique has drawn its chakra from, I can not only see it, but _block _that chakra. Overload it with chakra with an opposite signature, an opposite flow of direction, so much that not only does it halt the technique, but even more so, the _Limit _the chakra point feeds if there is one present.

It was why I waited so long before using it. I had to know where you're power came from, which chakra point your Limit drew power from. Thank you for getting frustrated enough for using it, your impulsive action led me straight to the Ajna, a most _painful _point to be blocked I imagine…"

Kisame had wondered whether or not to intervene, but Itachi was already on his feet at this stage, looking quite serious, more serious in fact than he had seen him in a long time. It was then Kisame understood what Kimi had done. There was no blazing red of the Sharingan in his eyes, just the dark irises of a normal person. She had _decimated _the source of his power by negating the chakra which powered it! Kisame began to become interested at last, eyes bored into the match.

Itachi also was looking at the fight in a new light. To take that much damage just to debilitate his Sharingan took guts, and a severe desire to _win._ Itachi smirked.

"You underestimate me. I don't need my Sharingan to defeat a second rate shinobi like you!"

And so the true battle had began. With his Limit blocked, and a severe migraine pounding at his head where two opposing chakra's were fighting each other out, he was at a major disadvantage in both power and concentration. It was a brutal match, consisting of fierce taijutsu, and since the technique seemed to drain her of her own chakra as she upheld the block in Itachi's Ajna point, fists, kunai and legs pounded each other into submission.

Yet eventually, as always, Itachi stood victorious, though severely hurt and losing a lot of blood. While it were clear that if Kimi's gamble in Itachi's ego hadn't won out, that Kimi would not be alive and she also had the advantage of surprise, it was still the longest any of the potential Akatsuki had ever lasted.

Kimi glared up at him as he stood posed to kill her, and suddenly her glare formed a tired, pained smile.

"Thank you for the challenge."

And with that, Itachi swiftly kicked her in the temple and marched away, indicating to the healthy Kisame to carry the unconscious girl as they headed for the village infirmary.

* * *

It had been two days before Itachi had finally recovered the use of his Sharingan and the vicious headache, which had been making him rather irritable indeed and making Kisame contemplate the murder of his team-mate, went away. Kisame stomped into view of the displeased Uchiha, eyes narrowed as he contemplated the younger man who viewed the hospital from a house roof some distance away. 

"So," began Kisame. "You out of your bastard mode yet?"

"She completely blocked my Limit. And she hinted that she could debilitate _any _Limit so long as she knew where in the body it originated," obsessed Itachi, thinking at the hospital in what appeared to be a very hard way.

"So you imagine she is fit to become a member?"

"Physically, yes. Mentally, we shall see."

"Do you know what the challenge will be? You've surveyed her the most. You should be able to figure it out."

Itachi stared down at the streets as yet another group of her clan made their way laughingly to the hospital, a bunch of flowers clutched in their hands as offering. The visitors had been none stop, and he viewed the genuine fondness and love she bore her family. Just as he had, in his own way, all those years ago. Yet just like him, she had developed the _thirst._ The thirst to grow, the thirst to be challenged, to not be dictated by what she should or should not do, her villages pathetic attempt at ethics forcing her out of her occupation however temporary that was. Would she be capable of her challenge?

"Hey Itachi! I was talking to you!"

"The challenge is obvious. It will be the same as mine. To destroy her ties to her clan."

"You think she'll do it?"

"…I'm sure of it."

* * *

**_A/N:_** _Well there you go! Chapter one. Reviews, at least for this chapter, would be very much appreciated as this really is just a test run to see people's interest. I wrote this mainly for my own amusement and had never really intended on posting it but here I am. If you think I should continue, then drop me a line! Constructive criticism greatly appreciated!_


	2. Temptation

**_Disclaimer:_** _I do not own Naruto, and if I owned the Akatsuki, I would have all dead members reincarnated. sigh Why do the interesting ones always go…No profit is made from this story._

_**A/N:** This chapter is much shorter, but I promise the next chapter will be extra long. This is just so you can get a feel of Kimi and how her mind works and also how the Akatsuki manage to seduce (no not THAT type of seduce!) people into their organisation. Oh, and I should inform you that this will not be an Itachi/OC, it will be more of a Teacher/Student relationship, if you can even call it that. I've been thinking along the lines of Deidara and Sasori's rather warped relationship, or later, Deidara and Tobi. Enjoy!_

* * *

Hakuchou Kimi tied her short brown hair behind her neck, gazing into the emptiness of her room, enjoying the quiet and darkness. Her injuries had been serious but manageable, but she was still holed up in the boring hospital room for another day. Another day to itch for a fight, another day of mind numbing boredom, though she had to admit, that fight had been…_exhilarating._

The dark haired man was strong, stronger than anyone she had ever seen. She knew from the beginning that he would defeat her, with or without the aid from his Limit, but to feel that energy and fight against it, to feel her blocking chakra fighting against his own had made her feel more alive than she had ever felt before. She only had one annoyance.

Why had he let her live?

Almost in answer to her unspoken question, she felt the sharp, large energy of her assailant enter through the open window, his flowing red and black cloak flying gently in the wind. Kimi turned to the young man, and for the first time took in his appearance. There was no doubt that he was attractive. Beautiful almost. But it wasn't that which captivated her, oh no. It was the huge chakra flow in his Ajra point which had her mesmerised. Never before had her opposition technique been countered, so much so that she had to concentrate all her energy just to repress the Limit. In a normal person she had enough chakra to oppose five points at once, basically drowning the poor soul in their own chakra, burning them alive from the inside. But not with _this _man.

"Hakuchou-san," he nodded in greeting, perched on the window ledge and drilling holes into her face with his eyes. The man was intense.

"Can I have your name? Id like to know the name of the man who defeated me so thoroughly," asked Kimi, a slight quirk to her lips. The man paused, as if to think about the question.

"Uchiha Itachi." She was beginning to think that this character was a man of few words.

"Uchiha Itachi," she tested the name on her tongue, and found it somehow appropriate. "So, the weasel has come to corrupt the swan (1)? You're blood-line limit is very impressive. It took all my ability to oppose it."

Itachi drew himself off the ledge and slowly made his way to her bed before sitting down on the bed side stool.

"How did you suppress my Limit?" said Itachi simply. Kimi couldn't prevent her smile. She had never met a more direct man in her life.

"I developed the ability from my clans own Limit. We can see the main points of chakra, where the chakra is 'born' in a sense. In the past, its only use is that of medical purposes, to expose the root of a chakra block but I discovered its other factor.

Or maybe I simply evolved my Limit without realising it, but I found that the members of my clan's chakra moves in the opposite direction to everyone else's, and when it comes into direct contact with its corresponding energy in another persons body, a body with correctly flowing chakra, it represses its original purpose. It negates the purpose of the chakra, cancels it out. You for instance, rely heavily on your Ajra point, right here." And at this point she poked Itachi in between his eyes, leaving him a little confused. He wasn't 'poked' often. Actually he was never 'poked' full stop. Yet she continued on none the wiser.

"You have a huge strain on the Ajra, as if its feeding off the other points which are much weaker than they should be, simply to accommodate the strain of your Limit, I imagine yes?" she asked, seemingly very interested in the physiology of Itachi's chakra system.

Itachi nodded, already aware that it was this problem that was the root of his almost ever present headache. He watched as Kimi took a very serious pose and covered her mouth with her hand, staring at his forehead with deep interest.

"Yes, I see what's going on here. I bet you have pretty poor eyesight don't you?"

If Itachi hadn't complete control over his facial expressions, he would have looked shocked for a split second but instead he nodded very slowly, quite surprised at her accurate description of his secret. The headaches kept getting worse, and his eyesight got blurrier each time he had a strenuous battle.

"I have bad news for you then. If you keep this up, you're going to go blind. Soon."

He scoffed. Like he didn't _know _that. It was obvious. Its all the more reason why he activated his sharingan so much, to make up for his lacking normal eyesight. A bit of a catch-22 .The more he used his Sharingan, the more his eyesight deteriorated, but he could function properly without it.

It was common knowledge that all eye related Limits, whether they were Sharingan or Byakugan, resulted in eventual blindness but normally it only hit in old age, but with the level Itachi used his coupled with the huge amounts of chakra plunging through his eyes to maintain the evolved form of his Sharingan, the side effect was kicked into overdrive.

Kimi looked at him with uncertain eyes, obviously uncomfortable and trying to cover her nervousness with something familiar, chakra, than face the brooding shadow of her victor. She turned her pale face to him, plain brown hair covering her equally plain brown eyes.

"But the good news is that it's fixable." She blurted out and winced, as if she had sensed she went over the line.

Yet the single raised eyebrow was enough to convince her to continue. It was more reaction on his face than she had seen yet.

"You're Ajra, or your eye point, are clogged up with chakra from other points and it can't accommodate the…residue it leaves. Every now and then, you have to "purge". It's a lengthy process, and it involves draining your body nearly completely of its chakra in slow streams through your eyes, so slow that the residue is cleared away, and then of course you have to recover.

All in all from start to finish, and judging from my brief view of your chakra levels, I would imagine this would take about a week. And another week without activating the Sharingan to allow the proper, natural chakra in your eye to repair the damage you've caused to your sight."

The silence following her diagnosis was deafening. He simply stood by her bedside, the cold night air causing both parties to shiver slightly, the only light basking in from the dull half moon outside.

"Why are you telling me this?" said Itachi, eyes drawn together in confusion.

"I…I don't know. You're power. My attack should have left you a cringing wreck on the ground, and even without your chakra, even with the pain you managed to destroy me in battle. Such _power._ I don't think I could stand the thought of such strength dying away."

She turned her face away from the pale man, embarrassed from her confession. She missed the slight smirk which graced his lips at her statement.

"Do you crave power, Hakuchou-san? Do you lust for it?" whispered Itachi, gladdened at her now stiffened posture.

Yes, he knew, knew from her clenched fists, from the brief disdainful looks he saw her bestow to the other members of the village, looks so quick that even he had barely caught them. He knew she was perfect for manipulation, knew her desires as they were his own. All she needed was the _temptation, _an offer good enough to drive her to do anything he asked her to.

He remembered his own temptation, standing at the banks of the river, doubled over and retching bile over his own hands, hands which had just drowned his best friend, all to attain the elusive Mangekyou Sharingan. He probably would have broken then, reported himself to the Hokage and been locked up for the rest of his days had the Leader not spoken those sweet, enticing words in his ear, promises of power so great that the world would tremble at his feet. He was offered an option. Just as he would offer this girl, this girl with as much potential as his own had been, that despite the innocence in her simple eyes, beneath it all was that very same dark desire that linked all the Akatsuki together.

Itachi crouched next to the bed, his dark shadow blanketing the girl, plunging her into darkness. All she could feel was the whisper of his breath against her ear, all she could here was the faint rustle of fabric against her arms, all she could smell was his scent of wood, earth and sweat, the scent of a seasoned Shinobi. And his words tattooed themselves to her mind.

"You could bend this world to its feet Hakuchou-san. We can hone your abilities, make you so powerful that everyone else appear as ants do to the stars. You can choose your destiny as master, not be confined to the hierarchy of this pathetic, ultimately meaningless village. How far could you rise here? Become a captain? An ABNU? Maybe even a Kage, but even then you'll be a lapdog to the other countries rulers, never free, never truly feared.

Join us Hakuchou-san. Prove to us that you crave power and will stop at nothing to attain it. We offer you the world Hakuchou-san. Discard the hollow bonds of blood and friendship and become great…"

Kimi drew a shuddering breath as she heard the words she longed to become reality. How she hated the idea of mediocrity. How she could never escape the shackles and predictability of her home. Everything was so set; everything had so many rules and boundaries. It didn't matter how high ranking she became, because there was always a dozen more of her kind behind her and ahead of her. But this man, this man whose immense power she had witnessed first hand, was saying she could be so much more…he was offering her dreams she thought impossible to obtain.

"What do I do?" she asked in a quaking breath.

And Itachi smiled.

* * *

**_(1): _**_Itachi Weasel Hakuchou Swan_

**_A/N:_** _There, two chapters out in two days! Aren't I good? I hope you guys like it so far and please drop m ea line in a review, because I am more than a little self-conscious with this particular fic. Thanks for reading and R&R because I am a review whore!_


	3. The Task

**_Disclaimer:_** _I do not own Naruto, and if I owned the Akatsuki, I would have all dead members reincarnated. sigh Why do the interesting ones always go…No profit is made from this story._

_**A/N:** Okay, updates will be slow after this as I've only one more chapter already written and I want to be at least one chapter ahead at all times! This one is told mainly from Kimi's mother's and father's perspectives! Enjoy!_

* * *

Hakuchou Aneko hated the Shinobi world.

It had been five days since Kimi had finally left the hospital bed in favour of her family home, her bones nearly completely healed. The room was plunged in a tense silence, her mother washing the dishes from the last meal, and Kimi slowly drying them, but her eyes stared straight ahead of her, her mind a million miles away. The soft chink of china against china chimed through her mind, an almost relaxing sound, distracting her from dark, bloodied thoughts.

Her Mother, Hakuchou Aneko, had always been a small, meek, quiet sort of woman, the happy victim of an arranged marriage and set firmly in her ways. She was once a beauty, but the years had finally begun to catch up on her, and snow lightly coated her once long, sleek black locks. Everyday she looked into the mirror and found yet another blemish marring her skin, another wrinkle to reminder her of her mortality. And it was made all the more worse was she did not have a daughter's beauty and vanity to cater to instead of her own. Her daughter was her complete opposite in all things.

She would always remember the joy she felt at her third child's birth, her first and only girl. She had longed for a girl to lavish attention on, a child for her dominion, unlike the boys who were always stuck firmly by their father's side learning the brutal ways of the Shinobi. The horrid loneliness of feeling that gaping chasm between her and her sons intensified with each winter as she was left alone for days on end while the men trained and her heart bled for a girl she could spoil, a girl she could tuck into bed at night, sing lullabies to without seeing the frowning, disapproving glare of her husband behind her back. She had wanted to watch her daughter grow into a fierce beauty, shop with her for expensive kimono and watch in pride as she married the man she loved, and not a man her family thought she ought to be with.

And for a while, things had been as they should have been. Kimi's father's one role in his youngest child's life was her naming and from then on, all matters concerning her was her mother's domain, a fact Aneko rejoiced in. At last she had a baby she could drown in affection, and cuddle and love.

For five wonderful years she had the daughter she had dreamed of. It was true, her looks had favoured her father's side more than her own, but while Kimi was not stunning, she had a quite grace and cuteness which Aneko was satisfied with. Everyday she brought her girl out to the village and bought her jewellery, toys and clothing, played with her around her household chores and ate with her alone, her brothers and father always gone and only seen a few days on end.

Yet on Kimi's fifth birthday, Aneko's dream was smashed.

Aneko's husband, the stern Hakuchou Haruko, had finally decided to take an interesting his daughter's life. She remembered the day vividly. Little Kimi was playing outside with her brothers, birthdays being the rare times the boys were allowed interact with their little sister, and Haruko watched the three with seeming interest. When Haruko began to speak directly to her, she nearly scalded her hand on the tea she had been pouring in shock.

"Aneko-san. I realise that I have been neglectful in my duties to Kimi. Daughter or not, I still have obligations to her and to grow into a woman our family can be proud of, she must begin her grooming soon," he had said, a thoughtful wrinkle marring his brow.

"I agree. I had wanted to bring Kimi's education up with you and what you would deem most appropriate for her."

Hakuchou leaned back, obviously caring little about what his daughter learned. Haruko was a shinobi, through and through and anything outside those realms was of no interest to him. Fightning was his first and only love and he had taken the arranged marriage hard, believing it had clipped his wings terribly.

"Well, you know her best. Is she graceful enough for dance? Steady enough for tea ceremony? Artistic enough for flower arranging?" he muttered, sipping his tea in a bored fashion.

Aneko paused. She had never really taken note of any of those things. Mostly she just enjoyed being in her daughter's joyful company. Haruko growled in annoyance.

"You have been in your daughters presence for five years and you can not answer me these simply questions?" he snapped, releasing a deep, martyr like sigh. "I suppose I shall spend the day with her tomorrow to assess what she would be best suited in."

Aneko thought nothing of it at first. She remembered bringing them their breakfast that morning, finding Kimi and Haruko facing one another, Haruko clad in his usual traditional Hakama, kneeling patiently as he tested his daughters intelligence and grace. Aneko spared her daughter a smile as the little girl spun around quickly, showing how she never fell down and left, missing the raised eyebrow her father had given her.

When she brought them lunch, she was mildly concerned at Haruko's more intense concentration on his daughter.

"Where this time, Kimi-chan?" she heard Haruko through the paper sliding door, his voice tight and almost…apprehensive?

"The stomach, the stomach!"

"And now?"

"The forehead!"

"…correct again, Kimi-chan."

Aneko had entered then, and found her husband wide eyed and in what appeared to be shock. Aneko decided it was none of her business, but a knot had begun to form deep in her stomach, one that would not go away.

She was denied entry when she brought them dinner. And again that morning when she brought breakfast. And soon, the clan elders began arriving, all heading towards the small training room, all tense with excitement. All day they stayed, never once leaving, never once pausing to eat, smoke or sleep.

It was a whole day before they all filed out, tired, hungry but with a light in their eyes like no other. Haruko was last, carrying a sleeping Kimi tightly, almost protectively.

Haruko's words that night still haunted her, twenty years later.

" She is a genius Aneko-san!" her husband burst out, showing more emotion in that one sentence than she had seen in her entire marriage.

"Her Limit has already come through! At _five _years old, this is unheard of! She could see the map of our chakra as if it were clear as day, see the flow of chakra through the body easily, see obstructions and damages. She has already reached the level of some chuunin of the clan in her Limit development, and it can only continue to grow! I shall start her training tomorrow. The boys will be enrolled in the local academy, they are old enough now. Kimi-chan needs all my attention. She will be the revival of our clan!"

And Aneko knew she had lost her daughter. She had, in a sense, gained her two sons whom were now neglected as Kimi had once been, but it wasn't the same. They would disappear for weeks on end, Kimi returning more serious, more agile and swift with each journey. And as she grew older, so did the pride in her fathers eyes, pride he had never shown to his sons or wife. The only time he paused to talk to her was about Kimi's development, a new growth of their limit found only in she, how she was the next stage in their Blood Limit's evolution.

Looking at her still bruised daughter as she was, a grown woman whose childhood she had all but missed, she felt a wave of resentment towards the Shinobi world. What man would want to marry a woman more powerful than he, who earned more money than he, who worked longer hours than he? However, Aneko was snapped out of her reminiscing by her daughter, who was still washing the same plate she had started on ten minutes before hand.

"Mother?"

"Yes, Kimi?"

Aneko watched as her daughter slowly placed the plate down, her entire body tense and her face troubled. She turned her face, so like her father's, and stared at her mother in almost desperation.

"If you…I mean, _would _you…"

"Just say it Kimi-chan!"

"…If you had a chance for a new life, for a life you dreamed of, craved with every inch of your existence, but you had to do something…horrifying, some thing unforgivable to get it…Would you? Would you do that terrible thing for the chance?"

Aneko rolled her eyes. Trust Kimi to come out with something so nonsensical.

"Oh hush Kimi, you're just shaken up from the attack and you're spouting nonsense. Now you're father wont be home until early in the morning, but he's ordered that you come to see him the moment he arrives home. I imagine it has something to do with capturing that hooligan that attacked you."

"Of course, Mother…"

Aneko didn't hear her daughter's shuddering breath, nor did she see the blood dripping from Kimi's hands as she clenched a kunai in an iron grip, her shoulders trembling and her eyes dark and scared. Aneko hardly felt the long length of iron plunge through her throat, hardly felt the clotting blood seep down and drown her lungs. She managed to turn around before her life gave out, and saw the terrible sight of her daughter, cold and merciless and poised above her, staring.

"I have to do this. It's the only way I can be strong."

Aneko hated the Shinobi world, a world were a person was willing to kill their own mother in the pursuit of some fantasy of power. She hated it.

* * *

Haruko Hakuchou had had his share of restless nights, and more than his fair share of high stress situations. Everyday, as leader of his clan, he was confronted with death, crop failure, income shortages and a billion other little problems which came with being a clan leader. Yet these past two weeks had been a nightmare of gargantuan proportions.

It had come as a shock to every person in the clan, that his daughter had been defeated in battle. And not only defeated, but nearly killed. His daughter was not revered as a genius for nothing; her attacks were renowned all over the country and she had _never_ been defeated since she first became a genin all those years ago. Haruko had never felt panic such as that when the messenger came to tell him that his daughter was on deaths bed, attacked by some wandering missing nin and dumped on the hospital grounds.

It was unnerving to him, to think that there was someone of such power out there, power enough to leave Kimi in such a state and have enough energy left to disappear off the face of the earth. He had been working night and day in pursuit of the man who dared leave his Kimi in such a condition, but so far all they discovered was a drop of blood and nothing else.

Haruko was considered a cold man by all, both inside and outside his clan. He was ruthless and unforgiving of any sort of transgression against him and his, yet it was a widely known fact that his greatest weakness was his daughter. It had been a shock to the ageing man to find such a well of talent within the child he hardly knew existed. He had always been so focussed on the boys and his own training that the girl, for an entire five years, passed under his radar. Had it not been for the brief feeling of guilt towards his indifference on Kimi's fifth birthday, he probably would have married her off by now and squandered such amazing skill.

Over the years, his bond with Kimi had grown. He cared for little else in his life. Having trained the spirited girl as a child and watch her blossom into a frighteningly powerful kunoichi had provided him the purpose he had searched for his entire life but lacked until the moment he realised Kimi's potential. He knew her intelligence, and her serious nature in battle, her unyielding and often violent need to prove herself and grow stronger, faster and sharper than all other people. Haruko planned on leaving the clan in her care when he passed away, slightly against the rules be it.

Haruko Hakuchou arrived home to an oddly quiet compound. Normally, even at that particularly early hour of the morning, there would still be the hustle and bustle of the Hakuchou market stall owners getting their wares ready for daybreak, the soft sounds of children crying for their mothers in the distant houses, or the drunken songs of Shinobi just home from a mission. Yet instead, all Haruko heard was an ominous silence, punctured by a creak of a garden gate, or the howling of wind through wooden planks.

Maybe on another day he would have found this silence cause to be on alert, to be wary of his steps, but on that day he was tired, tired from hunts for the man who tried to kill his daughter, tired from the never ending paperwork leading his clan generated and craved his bed more than anything. Yet first, he had to speak to Kimi, who had just been released from hospital. And so he travelled through the cold, barren streets, didn't notice the lack of guards or watchmen he was normally accustomed to meeting on his way, oblivious to the bloodied insides of the houses he past, unaware that he was one of the last two remaining members of his clan.

Slipping past the compound gates and noting that the gates had not been locked, he made a note to himself to sort out the new sentries he had hired from outside the clan and make an example of them. What if they had been attack in the middle of the night? That gate was the entire clans last line of defence between life and death, and casually leaving it unlocked, even in these more peaceful times, was an error that could one day form a tragedy.

Haruko ran a firm hand through his long grey hair, the sound of his long Yukata trailing against the ground deafening in the absolute silence. It was then that Haruko noticed that the lanterns had never been lit that night, his mind never acknowledging the fact before through tiredness and the large full moon granting his enough illumination to reach home. Haruko's stomach twisted on itself, old, Shinobi reflexes honed over decades of constant labour alerting him to the wrongness of the picture before him. With a burst of speed most would have though impossible from the older man, he dashed to his home, the dread increasing as each second past.

This time, with his mind alert and his eyes sharp, he did not miss the telltale signs of slaughter, a slaughter which had ravaged through the compound with the speed of a hurricane. A blood splattered door here, the near endless kunai embedded into the walls in nearly every direction there, seemingly in vain, the metallic scent crafted into the wind. It wasn't until he reached his neighbours home that he was confronted with the first corpse, the first sure sign that something had gone so horrendously wrong.

His old neighbour, Matsumoto-san, a kind and charitable woman who reared orphans who lost their parents through combat. Haruko always thought of her as the bane of his existence, the sheer loudness of her house always ringing with a toddlers nightmare, an infants wails or a pet dogs baying. There was never a silent moment in that house. Now there was only the ominous drip of blood from the woman chest where a kunai had ripped and torn till all life had fled. Haruko gasped as he realised that the bundle in her arms was no mere bundle. And that the bundle was still, and no sound escaped it's mouth. _Oh God. _

This wasn't an attack on Shinobi, this was an all out massacre, a genocide of their clan, and all he could think of was his son's and daughter, surely his daughter could withstand their force! She was a warrior, proud and fierce and it would take much to bring her down to her knees. He hastened his movements, images of his daughter blooded and beaten ringing through his mind. He had no doubt that his wife was dead, he knew it as sure as he knew that the sun would rise, but his children may still live.

He leapt clean over the gates, deftly avoiding the many traps he had set himself over the years and made his way to the courtyard. And even he, a veteran Shinobi, a man who had taken countless lives over his years of service, felt his stomach churn.

Servants, woman, children, his own nieces and nephews, tossed and mangled on the ground, the small lake in the middle a dark red from the bodies thrown inside. Eyes still wide in shock and horror, throats slit, shuriken imbedded deep within the flesh, and others…others seemed killed in a way he only knew one person capable of. Ashes littered the ground in piles here and there.

His daughter was still alive!

Only she could turn a persons chakra on themselves and burn them alive from the insides, it was her trademark skill. Which meant these scum were the enemy who had murdered his clan. Haruko clenched his fist, hark enough so that his own blood dripped from his palm and joined his clan's on the ground. He would join his daughter and make them pay.

As he drew further into the darkness, his eyes widened at the sight which met him at the entrance to his home. A huge wave of joy and relief washed over him as he saw two of his children at the doors, standing opposite each other, bloodied and tattered as any of the other unfortunates in his clan but still standing.

"Thank the gods you are alive! Where is your brother? Is he still of this world? Where are the villains who have lay siege to our home!" he demanded, rushing over to them, wanting to touch them, to be sure that they were still alive, and not some illusion of his grief worn mind.

"_Don't come closer Father!"_ his oldest son Kei cried, his bloodied face unrecognisable where it not for the luminous green glow of his eyes which were widened and maddened, pleading with him to flee.

Haruko glanced at the scene before him. His son was panting, injured so badly he could hardly stand on his own two feet, rips obviously broken from the haggard heaves of breath he drew, blood trickling down his chin with each exhale. He turned to his daughter, who seemed equally bloodied, but…she was not injured.

Dark hair obscured her eyes, her once white kimono a deep, dark crimson, stained and tainted. Her stance was relaxed, and calm, as if her mind did not see beyond what was in front of her, yet she did not even glance at her father. Her mind was too fixated on her brother. With a sharp flash of chakra, his son unleashed a tortured roar as hi chakra points imploded, drowning him in his own life energy. Haruko watched in shock as his son burned before him, and then he blinked and when he looked again, where once was his son was now mere ash.

Kimi turned slowly away from what was once her brother, and stared at her father and sensei, her face still hidden. She withdrew a kunai from the folds of her clothing and fell into a stance. Haruko's mind couldn't wrap itself around the situation. Was this his daughter? Was this the girl he trained everyday, who loved Yakitori and without fail gorged herself on it after every successful mission, whom he had tucked into bed at night as a child, and who had become his confidant in her adulthood?

Two figures emerged from the side of the burning house, clad in robes of black and red, large straw hats leaving their faces a black nothingness in the shadow of the fire They stood on either side of his daughter, the thinner one whispering something in her ear, before she nodded whipped the kunai towards her fathers throat. He didn't attempt to block it.

As he fell to the ground, he wondered why he allowed the darkness which held his daughter to grow as it had. He had seen it of course, he had been on enough missions with her to realise that the girl was unstable, and relished using her power over those weaker than her. Yet he decided to leave her be, because as soon as the mission was over, she had been right back to simple Kimi-chan, who stuffed herself to the point of sickness her favourite snack Yakitori and laughed at the most silly jokes. His last sight was that of Kimi pushing the hair that had concealed her face, and the broken, tearful look she gave him before sprinting from his sight.

* * *

**_A/N:_** _I hope you enjoyed Kimi's entrance test into the Akatsuki and next chapter is her reaction on what she has just committed and her version of the events! Until next time folks, please review!_


	4. Rebirth

_**Disclaimer:**_ _I do not own Naruto, and if I owned the Akatsuki, I would have all dead members reincarnated. sigh Why do the interesting ones always go…No profit is made from this story._

_**A/N:**__ Here's another update for you! The aftermath were it finally sinks in what Kimi has done._

* * *

_Ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgod_

Hakuchou Kimi knelt above the toilet as she felt her stomach heave with another lurch, bile burning her throat and tongue, breath heaving as she coughed, her hands leaving red stains on the white porcelain.

_OhgodwhathaveIdonewhatdidI__**do**_

Hugging the toilet bowl, she tried to ignore the phantom smells, the sharp, burned, all ready rotting metallic scents wafting from all directions, making her eyes water and mind turn. Eyes wild, she threw looks repeatedly over her shoulder, expecting some swift avenger to punish her for what she had done, for the awful, _sick, __**disgusting **_crimes she had committed.

She still didn't quite know how she had done it. It seemed the moment she ran her kunai through her mother's throat, she became possessed. She wanted, no, _needed _to show them all what she could do, that she was an empress to them in terms of power, how insignificant they all were. She decided whether they lived or died, and she had deemed them all unworthy. She butchered every soul, their screams muffled through the adrenaline, the swell of her chakra, the almost god-like feeling of absolute power. No one survived, not the elderly, not the infirm, not even the children…

_OhgodwhatamIohgodohgodohgodohgodohgod_

With a broken sob, she heaved up what little was left in her stomach, her mind frayed and ripped, unable to deal with the images of what she had done.

She remembered poring her chakra through the barriers of her brothers insignificant protection shield, clogging his chakra points, collapsing them and making the energy, with no outlet, to eat its container alive, burning it to ashes. She had turned then to the last one, the last of her family, her Father, standing as though he were made of stone with his eyes horrified and riveted on her, so confused, and almost…guilty. She hesitated then. Surely it wouldn't matter to leave an old, weak man alive? What could he do? She then heard felt her tempter walk to her side, leaning towards her.

"You don't want to leave survivors Hakuchou-san. Trust me, tempting though it may be, it will only end in you wishing you had done it now instead of later."

Without another thought she had shot her kunai towards her father, killing him the same way as she had murdered her mother. He hadn't even tried to move aside. He collapsed to the ground and latched his eyes on hers. It was then the spell broke. It was then that she realised exactly what she had done, could feel the blood of hundreds run on her skin, people she cared for, people she loved, her family, her kin.

_Ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgod_

The two men had dragged her back then, having had enough sense to realise the coming of guards from the city, and escaped to a near by inn where they had unceremoniously dumped her. She hadn't moved from the toilet since, memories eating her alive as she tried to wrap her conscience around the deplorable acts she had committed, unable to acknowledge that it had indeed been her.

The sticky, hard, foul smelling kimono clung loosely onto her body, reeking of death and covered in the bodily fluids of her clansmen, the front gaping, exposing her collarbone and the one injury she had sustained from her hunt, a long thick slash of a kunai given to her by her younger and more talented brother and not the weakling she had disposed of before her father- _not weak! He was her brother, how could she think of him in such a callous, cold hearted- _but her mind betrayed her. No matter the regret, no matter the guilt, the true reason for her present hysterics was clear as a spring rain to her. The small tingle in her stomach which rejoiced in _accomplishment_, the fact that she had derived an undeniable satisfaction from the terrible acts she had committed, and it was that warped mindset which had driven her over the edge. It was as if another person had raided her mind, and she was entirely unfamiliar with this new, stronger, darker, colder personality which lurked in the sewers of her mind.

Kimi choked over her sore, bile burned throat, her face puffy and red from tears. She clutched the bowl tightly, using it as an anchor on her sanity and trying to figure out exactly how she had ended up puking and broken in a seedy inn in a disreputable part of town. It was there, grimacing as a lone cockroach scuttled it's way across the grimy tiled floor, that she acknowledged to herself that the strange, brutal presence she had just so adamantly denied knowledge of until that moment was more familiar to her than she first admitted to.

The compulsion to hurt, to dominate and destroy was always present, floating beneath the surface of her happy, everyday mask. She had loved her family dearly, this was true, but at the back of her mind she resented how they held her back, how they dared to admonish her brutality in combat and had her future set in stone the moment they realised her evolved limit. Every time she sat docile in clan meetings by her father, the darkness lurked, begging to be released, to gain power. She allowed it free reign on missions. It was common knowledge that Hakuchou Kimi left no survivors. Ever.

Kimi turned her head in disgust at herself, at the swell of pure _relief _she felt beneath the horror, the bonds that had bound her suddenly cut. She had no one to hold back for anymore, and the joy that had caused within her breast threatened to explode.

Kimi felt her limp hair slip in front of her face as she contemplated her future. For the first time since she had killed her f…since she had killed Haruko, her mind wandered to Itachi and his strength. She suddenly remembered why exactly she had committed her fierce deed and all the benefits it entailed.

On shaking legs, she managed to pull herself stiffly from her position, knees sore and head throbbing from endless hours of weeping. She was surprised to find both Itachi and his partner sitting on the single bed, clad in their immaculate robes and looking so disinterested that Kimi longed for their indifference. The shark faced man looked up and grinned, an action both reassuring and terrifying all at once. Who knew a man could have such a…strange set of teeth?

"So you've finally gotten off your ass then? About time too, I was about to go in and give you a **reason **to cry. If I knew you were going to be such a baby about the whole thing, I never would have even given you a chance!" said Kisame casually, leaning back on his hands and eyeing her rather pathetic self mockingly. Kimi felt herself rise to the bait.

"Excuse me, shark man, but I have just slaughtered every person I know and love on your whim! Forgive me if I am a little shaken up by that fact!" she snapped rather hysterically, regretting it instantly at both men's darkening eyes. Her world exploded into pain as she was pinned to the wall, and elbow digging into her throat, an arm crushing her ribs. Yellow eyes narrowed in distain as she gasped for breath.

"Now listen here, little girl. We may have sought you out, but you are no more our equal than a cockroach is to a lion. You need to _prove_ yourself worthy of being Akatsuki. And right now, all I'm seeing is a snivelling, sheltered, spoiled little heiress who's up to her ankles in her own mess. So, you can get yourself together, do everything we ask of you, or you can leave, become a missing-nin and eventually die at the hands of hunters."

By this stage, lights began to swim in her vision from lack of oxygen, her legs kicking feebly against the wall she was pinned to. With a humph of distain, Kisame released her, allowing her to slide to the floor, her eyes dull and unseeing from her position.

Itachi had gotten to his feet, surveying the girl on the floor. Her reaction was normal. He himself had endured the same little panic attack when he had finished his own task. He'd give her a day to wrap her mind around what she had done, and if by then she was unchanged, they would slit her throat and move on. He hoped it wouldn't come to that though. He was _sick _of recruitment. Itachi indicated to Kisame that they were leaving, and the two silently left the grimy room.

Kimi pulled her knees to her chest and curled her legs around them, her breath coming in laboured gasps. Her minds eye swam with visions of her Father and brothers, her Mother, all the nameless faceless that had made up every day life for her for so long. Her eyes ached from the near constant sobbing, her throat ragged and she _needed _to wash and changed her clothing soon because the stench of clotting blood and rotting flesh was not making her situation any better.

With a controlled sigh, she pulled herself to her feet and slowly sat on the bed where the two men had previously sat, and attempted to pull her chaotic mind together.

Firstly, she did not want to die. Even after the massacre, she still was not ready for the embrace of death. And so she had two options, she could run. She could leave the village and spend the rest of her life as an outcast, never growing, never attaining more power as all her time would be spent hiding away like a rat, a coward who would eventually be hunted down and slaughtered like a dog. Not an option.

And so that left her with one option. This "Akatsuki" which bred overwhelmingly powerful Shinobi. After all, _this _was the reason she committed the murders, was it not? She wanted the power and prestige which came with being apart of such a group. Who outside of her own country had ever heard of Hakuchou Kimi? Yet in a years time, everyone shall know of the S-Class Akatsuki member who can drown people in their own chakra.

Kimi gathered herself to her feet and picked up the plain black yukata the men had left on the floor by the bed, seemingly for herself and padded into the bathroom, studiously ignoring the stains of blood and her own vomit. Looking in the mirror, she sighed.

"What is done is done. I have nothing holding me back now. I can't fall to pieces every time I have to do something like this. I am still alive, and I _will _be apart of Akatsuki, and any man, woman or child who stands in my way, will be cut down."

And Kimi cast off her masks, allowing the greed and thirst and hunger overtake her now that she had no one to reign them in.

* * *

The two men entered the room, slightly surprised not to see the girl in a fetal position on the floor but they thought nothing of it. Itachi placed their food down slowly, steeping into the bathroom where Kimi no doubt was still curled around half insane. What he saw came as a pleasant surprise.

Kimi stood dressed in the dull, black yukata, wiping her face as clean as the tiny sink of water and the dirtied cloth would allow. Yet it was her posture which told him far more. She stood straight backed and determined and though her eyes watered occasionally, the tears never fell. She turned to him, placing the grimy cloth in the sink in a graceful movement, and bowed to him.

"Forgive me for my earlier weakness…It will not happen again, but…please…make me Akatsuki!"

Itachi allowed himself a pleased smile beneath the collar of his cloak.

The new _Hokuto _had been found.

* * *

_**A/N:**_ _Just an explanation on the "Hokuto" reference. All the Akatsuki wear rings that signify their membership. The "Azure Dragon" or the "Seiryu" is held by Deidara and the "Vermillion Bird" or "Suzaku" is held by Itachi. I always laugh at Tobi's "Virgin" ring! Kakuzu held the "Hokuto", or the "Big Dipper" and it will be passed on to his replacement. Please review!_


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